This is the time of year when you start to see threatening billboards by the side of the highway.
I'm talking about the jewelry ads that appear on billboards as well as magazine covers and inside newspapers. In years gone by, jewelry ads used to be about the jewelry. 
Now they imply that husbands/boyfriends/significant others will be in a whole lot of trouble if they don't come through with that ring, necklace or tennis bracelet this holiday season.
Jewelry's a wonderful gift, but it comes with all kinds of ad-driven expectations. You can't just put a jewelry box under the tree, if you watch the commercials. You have to hide it--but not too well--so she'll find it just at that special moment. You have to find a clever way to say "I love you" along with that box of jewelry.
Forget the commercials. If you're giving jewelry this year, do it because you want to and because you know it will be a treasured gift. And find your own special moment to give that special gift. (Just remember, adding an engagement ring to anything edible--or a beverage--can turn that special moment into an occasion to use the Heimlich maneuver.)
COUPON TIME
If jewelry's on your shopping list this holiday, be sure to make the most of these savings opportunities:
20% off all jewelery at ICE.com 
In your shopping cart enter promo code SXM09.
Valid through: December 31, 2009, 2009 11:59pm ET
See other ice.com coupons!
15% off The Pink Champagne Collection at Zales.com 
Use promotion code PCHAMPAGENAFF at checkout.
Valid through: December 31, 2009
See other Zales coupon codes!
2 Responses to “OOO! Sparkly!”
THANK YOU for this post. Jewelery ads irritate me so much, particularly as a woman. There are all numbers of frilly, sparkly, purely decorative, EXPENSIVE things that women supposedly demand, and men are (supposedly) expected to provide.
To me it all seems like a phenomenal waste of money (expensive weddings, expensive wedding dresses, expensive engagement rings, other jewelery). I get offended by the jewelery ads because they often imply that women don't care about the value of money, they only want to 'sparkle'.
If you think back to the 40s-50s advertising was about building brand trust.
With the assumption that you would buy the product when you were good and ready.
In this credit driven economy,
with a UPC code database bursting at the seams with an ever increasing list of products
(most of which we don't need),
That simply isn't good enough, they now have to convince you that paying down your CC bill is less important then getting their product.